The present invention relates to inflators used to inflate an air bag in an automobile occupant protection system and, more particularly, to a mechanism for releasing a pressurized inflation fluid from a storage container, for use in inflating an airbag.
Inflation systems for deploying an air bag in a motor vehicle generally employ a gas generator in fluid communication with an uninflated air bag. The gas generator is typically triggered by a firing circuit when a sensor determines that vehicle acceleration has exceeded a predetermined threshold value (for example, through the use of an acceleration-responsive inertial switch.)
Air bag inflation systems often utilize a stored gas generator (or hybrid gas generator) housed within the B-pillar of a car, for example. Stored gas generators contain pressurized gas that is released to inflate the airbag upon receipt of a predetermined signal from the sensor. An ongoing challenge is to reduce the time required to release the stored gas upon a crash event. Furthermore, improved safety and reduced manufacturing costs are also ongoing concerns. Improvements in any of these areas would provide an advantage over state-of-the-art gas release systems.
Other stored gas release systems are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,206,420, herein incorporated by reference, describes a device for the introduction of pressurized gas into an airbag.